"It's like any release — you do this to make people's lives better. If people aren't using your product, you don't have an opportunity to do that," he said.

"Today, people use Firefox as their secondary browser. We think it's good enough to be your first browser," he added.

Firefox Quantum is really fast. According a test conducted with the open-source project WebPageTest, the browser loaded a number of top websites before Chrome did, including Yelp, Shutterstock, Ask.com and even Google Search itself.

However, Chrome was still faster to load most Google and Youtube pages, reports Mashable.

The browser also uses around 30 percent less memory than its competitors Chrome, Edge, and Safari on Windows operating systems, and uses only a tiny bit more than Chrome on macOS. This means users can run 30 percent more tabs without the browser crashing or slowing down.

But where the browser stands out the most is in the interface. The company extensively researched the way users navigate browsers, and Firefox Quantum has a number of small, but significant features to accommodate those patterns.

Users are a lot more impatient when waiting for the content of a page to load than they are for for graphics or sidebars. Consequently, Firefox Quantum loads the content of a website before loading any logos or graphics. It also loads your active tab before any other tabs — people overwhelmingly focus on one tab at a time, according to Nguyen.

Users want a browser that is fast and easy, Nguyen said. "They want a browser that stays out of the way," he said. "They don't want to housekeep."

Speed and ease have been the categories where Google Chrome has taken the lead. But Firefox Quantum may soon be hot on its tail.